916: The video marketing trifecta that EVERY business needs w/ Tim Bradley

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and I am so excited to be joined by a fellow New Englander in today's episode.

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He is an incredible entrepreneur that we're going to talk about video.

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We're going to talk about storytelling, and one very unique angle about this entrepreneur's business is we're going to talk about the middle of your funnel.

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No matter what type of business you have, this episode directly applies to you and you're going to walk away with some insightful strategies and techniques that you can use to get even closer to your audience, your customers, your clients, your potential customers and clients.

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A lot of good stuff from today's entrepreneur.

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His name is Tim Bradley.

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Ever since he was old enough to hit record on his dad's VHS camcorder, tim has been hooked on the power of video storytelling.

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He's been lucky enough to chase this passion throughout his career, from action sports webisodes to live broadcast events, feature-length documentaries to TV programs.

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Tim has had some amazing experiences along the way, and he's done this in the world of B2B, in the world of B2C.

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He's done it within the agency world, and he's joining us today as one of us.

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He's a fellow entrepreneur.

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After 20 years of professional experience and a lot of focus and intention, tim made the leap to start his own video marketing agency, pennant Video.

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For businesses looking to boost conversions and drive revenue which, spoiler alert, it's every single one of us Pennant is the go-to video marketing partner.

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Focusing on the middle of the funnel in a customer's journey, pennant helps B2B marketing and sales teams stand out, showcase their solutions and validate their offerings, which you're gonna hear me repeat myself a lot today.

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It's something we all need to do, so we're all gonna be challenged to introduce so much of Tim's genius and creativity and innovation into all of the ways that we do marketing and sales.

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So I'm not going to say anything else.

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I'm excited about this one.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Tim Bradley.

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All right, tim, I am so very excited that you're here with us today.

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First things first.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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This is awesome.

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Heck, yeah, I.

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Obviously there's a lot of things that I want to dive into here today, but first things first, I want you to take us beyond the bio.

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Who's Tim?

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Where did these passions come from?

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How'd you start?

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doing all this cool stuff that you're up to?

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Yeah, I mean, I'm the eldest of three brothers and we're always growing up trying to find the best ways to entertain ourselves, and we lived in Western Massachusetts.

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There wasn't a heck of a lot to do out there, it's in the woods, in the boonies, loved it, right.

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But my dad had this VHS camcorder and we were very privileged to have that as as as a thing to do, right.

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And so we're always, you know, using legos to create little movies or like little skits and and sort of things that just sort of like cultivated this passion for, for storytelling, right.

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Um, and yeah, I mean that bio, really well said, really strikes all the chords here, right.

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But it's just been such an amazing career path as a creative to like leverage the power of video, right, the audio, the video that you know, just this inherent storytelling within it to nowadays help brands, right.

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So it's just been very fortunate, I'd say, along the way.

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Yeah, tim, I love that, Because there's really three things that I know inevitably we're going to dive into today, one of which is video, one of which is storytelling.

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But the third one is where I really want to start, because it's the middle of the funnel, tim.

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We have a lot of amazing guests here on the show and listeners tune in, always looking for new ways to grow their own businesses, and we all know we've heard it for a decade now that video can inevitably help us, but I love how much of an emphasis you have on where video and storytelling can help us.

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So let's start with the middle of the funnel.

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What is the middle of the funnel?

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Why is that your focus area?

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Yeah, great question for a couple of reasons.

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One is just our own differentiation, of course, which I can like get into later, but primarily in brand and content marketing.

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Right, like you are empowering a customer, a potential customer, to make a decision.

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Right, like that is like your main goal At the top of the funnel that awareness, that advertising play, all you're really striving to do is to sell a click right, get people to click to subscribe, or click to go to your website or click to follow you on social media.

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Right, like just that first touch, right.

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And then, of course, the bottom of the funnel is like you've already established a rapport with this customer.

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They're ideally an advocate for your brand and what your mission and values stand for.

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Right, so they're already a big fan.

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So it's the middle of the funnel.

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That's like the biggest challenge and therefore the biggest opportunity for storytelling for brands, to help them differentiate, demonstrate and validate their offerings and set them apart from their competition.

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Right.

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Yeah, I love that overview.

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Especially I'm going to publicly I'll call myself out here on the air is that yesterday I had an internal meeting.

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Usually my Mondays are internal meetings with the team in all my different businesses in my portfolio and in one of those we looked at our CRM and we said guys, we've got.

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You know, I think in that particular week that we were looking at, we had generated 55 leads at the top of our funnel and the question that I asked the team was what are we going to do with them?

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And that's the big question, tim is once they're in our ecosystem, how do we serve them?

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Because they're not yet a customer or client?

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So give us some examples of ways that we can inject video and storytelling to do those things that you just highlighted for us of having our brand stand out, of having that relationship with them.

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How do we actually do that?

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Yeah, great question.

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So it is called a marketing ecosystem, right?

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So there are many opportunities to showcase your brand's values, showcase your people, showcase your leadership?

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Right, through blogs and infographics and eBooks or playbooks, right?

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Webinars, events, podcasts, myriad ways to do this.

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Right, but bar none, video is the most preferred medium by audiences.

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Right, it's just like, if a picture's worth a thousand words, video is, you know, tenfold that.

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Right.

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So the power of a mobile device, the power of social media, the power of just brand storytelling through words, messages, positioning brand identity, people, humanity at the end of the day, right, it's just like, all compounded into this medium of video, okay.

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So for the middle of the funnel, though specifically like, this is the sort of like the battlegrounds right, like you've gained the attention of a potential customer.

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How do you get them from that awareness stage through consideration to decision them different?

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You need to differentiate your brand.

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You need to demonstrate your brand, your the solution that your brand provides and validate via third party customers.

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Right.

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So testimonials, right.

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So for this, uh, for us, and the things that we do day in and day out, and what I'm preaching here today is, you can do this by way of anthems, explainers and endorsement, aka customer success story or testimonial videos.

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Right, because this three legs of a stool, this tripod, if you will right, inherently evoke and express a brand's why, their what and their how and their who and their where.

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Right, so sort of the complete picture of what value a brand can provide, or business can provide to their potential customer.

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Right Now, of course, there's like many ways to architect or aesthetically produce these types of videos, and that's what's like the best part in my position as a creative and as an entrepreneur is to like help these brands explore what's the best avenue to produce these.

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Is it through leadership and sort of interview style content?

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Is it to produce these?

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Is it through leadership and sort of interview style content?

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Is it through motion graphics?

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Is it through live action production with talent and locations?

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Right, like what is the best craft to showcase the brand's impact that they can have on a customer or their audience?

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at the end of the day, yeah, tim, I'm going to call this out right here because I think it's important for listeners to see this, something that appears to be natural for you, but I think it's for sure, one of your superpowers is that when I talk about follow ups with regards to sales and marketing, I always tell people I'm just constantly looking for an excuse to follow up with them.

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So you being a fellow Massachusetts native, if I see something fun and exciting happening we talked about Salem before so if I see an article about Salem ahead of Halloween, boom, that's all the excuse I need to follow up with you, and I'm just always looking for those excuses.

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It seems to me we just saw in real time that you always find excuses for videos and for opportunities to create great content.

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You rattled it off the founders and their stories, the staff, the products, the services you so effortlessly.

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I couldn't even take notes as quickly as you were rattling these off, and so I think that that's one thing that surprises me when I talk to entrepreneurs and, yes, all of you entrepreneurs that they convince themselves, tim, that I don't have stories to tell.

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I understand the power of storytelling.

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Talk to us about that, because I'm sure it's an objection that you hear a lot with your clients where they don't even realize the stories that they're sitting on.

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Yeah, exactly, and not only is it a disservice to yourself as the founder and the brand, the business you're trying to build, but mostly for your audience, right, because at the end of the day, that's who, that is who you are serving.

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So whenever we approach a project or an opportunity, it's through that lens of like what is, what does the audience need right now, that we can help empower them to make a decision.

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Right, like, one way or the other.

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If you're in sales and marketing, you need your audience to ultimately make a decision to go with you or not, but obviously you want the former to go with you, right.

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So that's really the biggest sort of lens or focus to have is on the audience first, right.

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And then again, if you just like, very simply attempt to express your why.

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You know why you are in business at the end of the day, right, it's like you're doing this because because you have a certain set of values, you have a mission, you want to make an impact in your communities or in your industry, right, that is as clear a day thing that you can express.

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So now it's just how do you work with a creative or a partner to help express that again creatively through, whether it's motion design or live action.

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Video, right, like that is like an anthem, aka like manifesto or overview.

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Video like that is like your brands or your businesses flagship asset because it is just at the core of what you do.

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Right?

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So that's like the top of, like what we, the video marketing trifecta, these three prongs.

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Next is an explainer People want to know what you do and how you do it.

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And as succinct and, ideally, with entertainment value, right.

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People want to feel the humanity behind your brand, whether it's like humor or, ideally, not scare tactics, but just like what is that emotion you're trying to evoke through all these assets that you're creating?

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Right Cause?

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that's what they are at the end of the day, they are assets, they are tools.

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These videos are tools to help further your brand.

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Be that force multiplier for either yourself as the founder, or for your marketing team, sales team, et cetera, right, your employees at large.

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And then, lastly, of course, et cetera, right, your employees at large.

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And then, lastly, of course, the best stories are your customers' stories, because you don't have to script anything.

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You just thoughtfully come up with a set of intentional interview-based questions and let them be authentic.

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Let the interviewee or the people that you are talking to, tell their own story as authentically as they can.

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And then, of course, the power of visuals on top of that, showing what the behind-the-scenes nature of your business is, what the before and after results are of working with this or collaborating and partnering with this customer.

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Those are the most straightforward stories to tell because they're your customer stories sort of most straightforward stories to tell because they're your customer stories, but they align with your values and they express, like, who your business is best for and where.

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Yeah, tim, I'll tell you what this transparently.

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This is one of the reasons why we were so excited to reach out to you and have you here on the show today, because a lot of people do video in a lot of different ways, and you've already talked about one of your differentiators is kind of focusing on that middle of the funnel.

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But this, what you call the video trifecta of the Anthem video, the explainer video and the endorsement video this is something I've personally never seen and I've been in the game for 16 years and so I think that this is something that stands out because it's also very actionable for entrepreneurs, for business owners, for brands of literally any size.

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We could even apply all of this to the enterprise level, which I know you've done in your agency life and in all the things that you do with Pennant Video.

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But hearing that you brought up one of the magic words that I know people always ask about, which is the script, and listeners know here on this show we have no script, which is why these conversations go where the good stuff is and we just follow where it takes us.

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But a lot of people get hung up on that.

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Maybe they're uncomfortable on video, maybe they aren't.

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They don't have the reps that a lot of other people have.

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So, tim, when it comes to these and I'm curious if it differs between the Anthem video, the explainer video and the endorsement video are some more scripted than others?

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How do you start attacking the substance the meat and potatoes of what people are going to talk about on video?

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Yeah, I'm going to answer that from a few different directions.

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The customer stories that is obviously interview-based, right, like, yeah, maybe there's a little bit of scripting, you know, text on screen or just something to help the audience sort of like insert themselves into this situation, this business, a bit more succinctly that maybe the person on camera can.

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But for 99% of the time your customers are telling the story.

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It's your responsibility to help them tell that story via appropriate interview questions, right?

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So that's that's sort of like the nuance to that one.

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The other two anthems and explainers most of the time are scripted because it is very challenging off the cuff to rattle off your entire sort of mission and purpose and what you do and how you do into that target length of like 90 seconds.

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Right, that is like tons of research by our friends at Wistia.

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They always emphasize that sort of like 90 second to two minute mark is like really that sweet spot for marketing videos to give just enough information, to be that carrot on the string to help your customer further down that funnel, or that customer journey, right, to help them arrive at a decision, especially in B2B.

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I think the stats like 97% of potential buyers are not ready to buy right now, but they want to be prepared and be ready to buy when the time is right, and so you want to be their first choice in that moment, right?

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So these, these types of videos, and as part of your entire ecosystem, are so critical in content marketing, right?

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But anyway, back to scripting.

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So the biggest challenge that you know myself and my team and my team of writers and creative directors is really that like mix of creative development, brand to assuring that comes across in the tone of voice, right Of like how we script, and then, of course, that audience.

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What are the what's that?

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Like one takeaway you want your audience to have after they watch this video right, anthems.

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We typically target about 60 seconds.

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That's like 125 to 150 words, depending on how fast you're rattling it off.

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So that's why it has such an important purpose in the video marketing trifecta and therefore a brand's marketing ecosystem, is you're just telling your why You're not trying to describe everything about your business, who you serve, where they are.

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You want to ultimately hit your audience in the heart.

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They want to be like wow, this brand, this business, sees me for the challenges that I'm up against, for the aspirations that I have in my career.

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That is the purpose of an anthem.

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It is not without its challenges.

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The challenges that I'm up against for the aspirations that I have in my career right, that is the purpose of an anthem is very it is not without its challenges.

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To distill down an entire brand and business identity and mantra to 60 seconds, right.

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So that's why it's always great to work with a partner that can be objective right, they can ask the devil's advocate questions.

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They can help filter through the sales jargon and the marketing jargon to get to the humanity of what this brand or business is all about.

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And that's why those are the most exciting for me is because they ultimately become the tip of the spear for the marketing's entire identity.

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Most of the time, anthems occur during a moment of inflection, like, whether it's for a brand, I mean so whether they are rebranding and they have updated identity or positioning and they want to, like, make that statement.

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They're also super impactful for events where you want to get the you know, all the people in the room into a like-minded state of mind and feel like impassioned, empowered and excited for whatever the content or the run of show is for an event and then, of course, a brand's launch.

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It's like when you want to make that statement.

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Everyone knows the elevator pitch.

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This is effectively that condensed and expanded upon, visually right Explainers, sort of a.

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Most of the time it is scripted.

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There is certainly opportunities to include people either in the B role at a minimum, but of course, like that, leadership might have a role or a moment in this.

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But ultimately that has to do with like sort of the cadence and flow of how that script is going, cause, again, it's like you, you want to make sure you're choosing your words as as accurately and and with the most impact as possible.

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Cause you got that 90 seconds to two minutes to describe what you do and and and and how right so it's.

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It's a good challenge at the end of the day.

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I'll pause there.

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Any questions?

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I just rattled off a lot.

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Yeah, no, lots to unpack there.

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Honestly what comes to mind is I always love that Abraham Lincoln quote and I referenced it a lot where he said if you want me to give a five hour speech, I'm ready to go right now.

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If you want me to give a five minute speech, I'll need five hours to prepare.

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It's harder to make a 60 second video I can say this from my own personal experiences and you really distill just the important stuff which I think you referenced Wistia, which is a fellow great Boston based company, the team at Wistia.

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I remember when they first launched I was one of the early adopters of Wistia.

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Their video platform is incredible.

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The analytics are unbelievable and so what they did, I think it really raised the bar for at least for me personally, of what I viewed as possible in the way they presented themselves.

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Tim, and it wasn't just the company, it was the people behind the company.

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That's the only reason why I know they're from Boston, they're proud of it and they reference it and I have a feel for who they are as a team.

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But it makes me really appreciate hearing you talk about this stuff today of someone somewhere asked the right questions and you wrote it in your pre-recording questionnaire where you talked about what other career fields you get to hang out with a C-suite brainstorm with visionaries and be a part of strategic brand discussions.

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Tim, that's some high-level stuff.

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All of this stuff is intentional in the videos that we see.

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What sort of questions.

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How do you even start to get at that good stuff?

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Yeah, I mean, that is definitely the most exciting part is because, like you're, as a video marketer, as a creative, you're like trusted sort of out the gate to be shown like behind the scenes and see the sort of pain points and challenges that a brand or business is up against in this moment in time.

00:20:23.009 --> 00:20:36.775
And your charge, your responsibility, my responsibility, is to help that business get over that hurdle and provide them with the right tools and assets to help them propel to the next level of that business.

00:20:36.775 --> 00:20:41.767
Right, so, it's an incredible amount of responsibility, but that's what's so exciting about this career.

00:20:41.767 --> 00:20:52.974
Right, so, it's an incredible amount of responsibility, but that's what's so exciting about this career, right, and you get to do it in the most sort of like the closest to tangible way possible of expressing the brand and the humanity behind that brand via video storytelling, right?

00:20:52.974 --> 00:21:09.519
So, yeah, it's certainly the thing that gets me out of bed every day and has me like just like amped for this career, like day in and day out, is because every day is not only like different but you learn and you and you evolve as that professional with each interaction and each like opportunity.

00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:28.247
Right, um, now, as far as, like, who we're working with yeah, like we're working with like, heads of product marketing and heads of customer marketing or advocacy, and the marketing directors, or the CMO, depending on the size and scale, and, again, that inflection point for a brand.

00:21:28.247 --> 00:22:05.618
So, at the end of the day, especially in the realm of B2B, where we primarily exist, these professionals have a singular focus and we just need to align ourselves with that singular focus through the lens of video and creative storytelling in that way, right, um, I also feel very fortunate that, like we, um, we do a lot with, like b2b, sass and climate and green technology and cyber security these, these brands that, like inherently in their mission, are out to make the world safer or more secure or more sustainable.

00:22:05.618 --> 00:22:11.438
Right, so it's not a difficult thing for us to hitch our wagon to.

00:22:11.438 --> 00:22:19.046
These are brands and businesses that are looking to make that impact in the world and, as a founder, it's like, yeah, that's what it's all about, right.

00:22:19.674 --> 00:22:27.884
Yeah, I love that overview and clearly your passion for what you do and who you get to work with is really evident, even here in real time on this episode.

00:22:27.884 --> 00:22:44.023
But for me, one thing that I always think about is the answers we're gonna find in life will only ever be as good as the questions that we're asking and, for me, hearing your perspective on the way that you go through your creative process and the strategic process behind why are we even creating videos in the first place?

00:22:44.023 --> 00:23:03.568
You've said the word customer-centric a few times, and when I think about the pressure we put on ourselves as entrepreneurs, as business owners, we have a tendency to think that this video is about us and our company, or this product or service is about us and this company, when we're talking about creating an anthem video for your company, but it's actually about your customers.

00:23:03.568 --> 00:23:06.193
So, tim, how do we get at that stuff?

00:23:06.193 --> 00:23:13.338
What types of questions are you asking these brands to make sure that these videos don't just speak about the companies but about their customers?

00:23:14.201 --> 00:23:26.974
Yeah, and that is the most important and often challenging part is asking these brands and businesses to just simply put down the mirror, right, Like you have to put yourself in your audience's shoes.

00:23:26.974 --> 00:23:38.674
So there's a lot of like research, front and center, that we ask for, Like all right, well, tell us about your ICPs, your ideal customer profiles, right and like what are their pain points and challenges?

00:23:38.674 --> 00:23:41.483
Where are they in their career aspirations?

00:23:41.483 --> 00:23:43.510
And like, what are their pain points and challenges?

00:23:43.510 --> 00:23:44.595
Where are they in their career aspirations?

00:23:44.595 --> 00:23:50.949
What are the sort of individual pain point solution sets that you solve that in a way that nobody else, that nobody else or another business can solve, right?

00:23:50.949 --> 00:23:54.806
So sort of these like front and center audience questions.

00:23:55.776 --> 00:24:18.582
From there it is a lot of nuance to is you know, what does this product do or service do that empowers these, these customers, to to level up to where they aspire to be, Right, Um, and our, our charge as as storytellers is like unearthing those bits of humanity, unearthing those, those bits of like opportunity for analogy, right, Like what?

00:24:18.582 --> 00:24:34.587
What are those are those elements that are inherent in sort of the art and craft of storytelling, that can be distilled or filtered through the sales jargon, the marketing jargon right that like are ultimately tactics right To support that brand.

00:24:35.674 --> 00:24:47.405
Yeah, tim, I have to ask you this because part of what I love about these conversations is excuse me I love speaking to you not only as a subject matter expert, but also as a fellow entrepreneur.

00:24:47.405 --> 00:24:48.188
You are one of us.

00:24:48.188 --> 00:24:56.516
It's something I said at the top of this episode and I'm going to call this out for listeners because when they click through to your website, obviously that link is going to be down below in the show notes.

00:24:56.516 --> 00:25:01.303
We're going to talk about your website at the end of this episode, but it looks like you've got it all figured out, tim.

00:25:01.303 --> 00:25:05.528
You have not only a beautiful website but also a beautiful brand.

00:25:05.689 --> 00:25:07.896
I love so much about what you've put together.

00:25:07.896 --> 00:25:15.666
Now, of course, you had 20 years of experience before you went under your own umbrella and that all plays into the reps that you have the experience, the expertise.

00:25:15.666 --> 00:25:30.201
But give us the inside story behind Pennant, because it just seems to me, looking from the outside, in how intentional every single aspect of your business is and I would imagine, I hope it's been somewhat of an iterative process and you figured it out along the way.

00:25:30.201 --> 00:25:35.186
But give us the behind the scenes story behind how everything you do is seems so cohesive.

00:25:36.191 --> 00:25:41.762
That's that's very kind and also, additionally, motivating.

00:25:41.762 --> 00:25:43.145
So thank you, I appreciate that.

00:25:43.145 --> 00:25:44.429
Yeah, I mean so.

00:25:44.429 --> 00:25:51.306
I I was in house at a, at a public relations turned PR and marketing agency.

00:25:51.306 --> 00:25:52.509
I was.

00:25:52.509 --> 00:26:03.778
I was in house there for 12 years and I was hired as the first creative hire, and the story I love to tell is that I found the job for video production specialist on Craigslist of all places.

00:26:03.817 --> 00:26:10.282
So if that doesn't sort of like date, the moment in time, right, but this was, you know, 2010.

00:26:10.282 --> 00:26:26.644
And I promise I won't expand on every year, but just in that moment in time, like YouTube was in its infancy, right, and like brands were, they saw video as like sort of a shiny object or like, oh, we don't do advertising, or like we can't afford advertising.

00:26:26.644 --> 00:26:28.595
It's like it was just sort of bold new territory.

00:26:28.595 --> 00:26:45.163
And so I was like super fortunate to really be given like incredible autonomy inside this agency to like make mistakes and to build up from nothing right, to like set a new bar year over year and build out an amazing creative team.

00:26:45.163 --> 00:27:02.106
By the time I exited I was there for there was eight motion designer, animators and handful of producers and editors and director of photography and director and podcast producers and a couple dozen staff on my team.

00:27:03.558 --> 00:27:07.582
So that ultimately gave me the courage that like, okay, you've actually done this.

00:27:07.582 --> 00:27:20.540
You've been responsible for a P&L, you've been doing all the business development for the most part, you've been doing much of the marketing on behalf of the video services group inside of this agency.

00:27:20.540 --> 00:27:48.442
You've held incredible tenures with clients of like you know eight, ten years and it was incredible expansion like within those relationships themselves, right, and so it was just realizing that like this is ultimately sort of going back down the mountain again and hiking it right, knowing the trail, knowing the path already, like you know where to insert the right amount of stamina at certain times.

00:27:48.442 --> 00:27:49.217
And so it was.

00:27:49.217 --> 00:27:52.846
You know just how to stay, how to keep momentum ultimately right.

00:27:52.846 --> 00:27:57.047
So that's really been the thing that gave me the courage is just like you did it.

00:27:57.436 --> 00:28:12.094
Just do it again, do it with focus and intention with this middle of the funnel and the video marketing trifecta and these tools that ultimately give businesses the best boost possible, with using video as the best medium for that.

00:28:12.094 --> 00:28:47.701
So, yeah, it's been incredibly rewarding you know just like personally, and fulfilling and for my family and it's just been a you know just incredible amount of pride and so much support, Like so many like client contacts that have moved on to other stops in their career, like they call on us and we've been able to just like leverage a lot of these relationships and at the end of the day, it's just sort of like I know as the founder I have to be the sort of the mouthpiece and face of this new brand.

00:28:47.701 --> 00:28:53.288
I use LinkedIn a ton to support that.

00:28:53.288 --> 00:28:55.911
Obviously, doing things like this are incredible opportunities.

00:28:55.911 --> 00:28:56.551
Thanks again.

00:29:02.194 --> 00:29:02.877
Heck, yes, I love that perspective.

00:29:02.897 --> 00:29:16.537
Honestly, hearing you talk about that with full transparency here in real time for this episode, I think that this is the real stuff that listeners around the world, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs alike even if someone has a flourishing business already hearing these real life perspectives from founders like yourself, tim, I just think it's so invaluable.

00:29:16.596 --> 00:29:22.702
I know that when I started my first business at 19 years old, it's something that I wish I had access to these types of conversations.

00:29:22.702 --> 00:29:32.459
So, hearing the way that you think about this and the way that you process it and I think that your situation is a bit unique you talk about, you know, working it sounds like real startup cultures.

00:29:32.459 --> 00:29:37.257
That you were exposed to so many different facets of the business that you were helping to grow.

00:29:37.257 --> 00:29:43.249
That, when it comes to growing your own business, you already had some of those reps that a lot of nine to five employees may not have had.

00:29:43.249 --> 00:29:48.359
With that said, though, I also know, as a fellow entrepreneur, that it still means there are challenges.

00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:58.842
So, tim, in the name of transparency, what are some of those things that did surprise you when you transitioned from kind of agency life to running Pennant Video as your own baby and really helping to grow that?

00:30:00.204 --> 00:30:02.915
Yeah, probably a few things Like.

00:30:02.915 --> 00:30:14.401
One is just like the sheer amount of like tools in that marketing comm stack that are available in a founder's disposal, right.

00:30:14.401 --> 00:30:26.723
So it's just sort of like identifying the right set of tools that like empower us to do the things we want to do, make the day-to-day easier, make communication more seamless, right.

00:30:26.723 --> 00:30:30.138
Um, the biggest thing is it's not like a like a light switch.

00:30:30.138 --> 00:30:32.845
It doesn't all just like turn on and happen, right.

00:30:32.845 --> 00:30:50.239
So it was quite a bit of like intentional building the first few months, like what is what are the right sets of like operational tools to ensure we're set up for success, not only now in our sort of like infancy, but, you know, have this platform, these sets of platforms to build on in the future.

00:30:50.239 --> 00:30:57.006
So a lot of that was really being super intentional with like what is what is our own customer experience?

00:30:57.006 --> 00:31:16.126
Look like, like would when we're producing this video, marketing trifecta, or the singular elements within the assets within that, what are those touch points and those cornerstone moments of opportunity to inject branding opportunity to communicate or interface with our customers?

00:31:16.126 --> 00:31:30.155
Nuanced steps need to look like visually, like built out an incredible Miro board with my friend and operations consultant right To just like what is that experience that we're selling look like?

00:31:30.155 --> 00:31:33.144
And then, what are the right sets of tools to support those?

00:31:33.144 --> 00:31:35.679
And then like where and how can automation play a part?

00:31:35.679 --> 00:31:38.286
To just like make the little things that little bit easier, right.

00:31:38.996 --> 00:32:01.325
And then the second is really just like that power of a network, you know, and just like really, um, I, I, I'm like sort of proud of myself from from the years ago to just like leveraging LinkedIn and ensuring that as I was building um connections that I, I took as much time as you know anybody can afford in a 24-hour day.

00:32:01.465 --> 00:32:13.423
Build on those relationships over time, providing and sharing insights and value along the way, because all of those little touch points just build trust and that's really what this is all about at the end of the day.

00:32:13.423 --> 00:32:16.304
So I do not take that lightly.

00:32:16.304 --> 00:32:28.726
And so, whenever, now at Pennant, when we started with zero assets, what are the pieces of content that we can create that support our customers in, in, in their journeys?

00:32:28.726 --> 00:32:31.578
Right, um, provide the most bank value?

00:32:31.578 --> 00:32:33.763
At the end of the day, is is really the name of the game.

00:32:33.763 --> 00:32:40.807
And and from there, how to exercise a really smart like distribution strategy in a focused way.

00:32:40.807 --> 00:32:47.058
You know one really smart distribution strategy in a focused way One, two channels, email.

00:32:47.058 --> 00:32:51.828
Just be very direct and build a solid foundation for our own sense of marketing and expand from there.

00:32:52.535 --> 00:32:56.765
Yes, tim, I so appreciate you sharing all of those insights here.

00:32:56.765 --> 00:33:01.765
I'm going to call out two things from that, because one my word of the year for 2024 is building.

00:33:01.765 --> 00:33:10.262
And right there in that answer, you showed your your builder's attitude and your builder's mindset of you're not just building something for the short term when you talk about these tools.

00:33:10.262 --> 00:33:17.438
Gosh, this is the one area I'm still guilty of it to this day, tim, is that I'm always buying cool marketing tools, especially in this ai era.

00:33:17.438 --> 00:33:22.548
I feel like there's a new cool tool coming out every single day of the week, and I live on AppSumo.

00:33:22.548 --> 00:33:25.545
I'm always scooping up tools, most of which I never end up using.

00:33:25.545 --> 00:33:27.121
But you have that builder's mindset.

00:33:27.121 --> 00:33:38.545
And then the second part of it when you talk about your network, that just shows to me so much as someone who has had to or who gets to, interact with you, even on a limited basis, I can see that you are a seed planter.

00:33:42.815 --> 00:33:44.663
You view these things that you're doing, these touch points that you frequently talk about.

00:33:44.663 --> 00:33:49.501
You view them as planting seeds, whether you're going to get to harvest them this week, this month, this year, this decade, 20 years from now.

00:33:49.501 --> 00:33:55.765
It's clear that you've built up a career based on planting those seeds, so of course, you get to reap the rewards of that.

00:33:55.765 --> 00:33:56.994
So huge kudos to you.

00:33:56.994 --> 00:34:01.123
I really love and appreciate those insights and how transparently you share them for our listeners.

00:34:01.123 --> 00:34:11.677
But I have no idea how you're going to answer this last question, because you shared so much wisdom with us today that I always ask guests what's the one takeaway for listeners who tuned in, being like gosh?

00:34:11.677 --> 00:34:17.458
An anthem video, an explainer video, endorsement videos, storytelling, the actual production of it?

00:34:17.458 --> 00:34:27.418
There's so much good stuff you shared with us with your video hat on, as well as with your entrepreneurial hat on.

00:34:27.418 --> 00:34:28.440
's the one takeaway?

00:34:28.460 --> 00:34:51.137
your one piece of advice that you hope every listener walks away from this episode with yeah, I mean probably because it's like a reminder to myself that, like you have to start somewhere, right, so you have to start with whatever that singular sort of tool or piece of content that like supports you in this moment in time and just build momentum, right, like motivation has its peaks and valleys, and we all know that.

00:34:51.137 --> 00:35:02.063
But it's like, how do you start momentum, sustain it, build on it, right, and just like the best thing to do is just like keep the eyes on the prize with your, with your sense of purpose, right?

00:35:02.063 --> 00:35:03.744
So, yeah, that's, that's probably.

00:35:03.744 --> 00:35:10.039
It is recognizing you have to start somewhere to build momentum and then, of course, sustain it.

00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:11.923
Yes, I love that.

00:35:11.923 --> 00:35:14.476
Momentum is the name of the game for all of us.

00:35:14.476 --> 00:35:16.320
Motivation comes and goes.

00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:19.487
Discipline is what builds momentum, and keep that going.

00:35:19.487 --> 00:35:23.840
So, tim, really insightful knowledge and wisdom from you here in today's episode.

00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:30.394
I know that listeners are gonna be super excited, especially since dare I say publicly that your website is one of my favorites.

00:35:30.394 --> 00:35:35.304
In 900 plus episodes, I am blown away, and it's not just because of the website.

00:35:35.304 --> 00:35:37.121
It's because of all the embedded videos.

00:35:37.121 --> 00:35:40.144
It's because of the brand behind your business.

00:35:40.144 --> 00:35:43.407
It's because of how you weave your branding even into your business.

00:35:43.407 --> 00:35:44.914
It's because of how you weave your branding even into your messaging.

00:35:44.914 --> 00:35:52.505
There's so many clever things there that, whether people need video services or not, I invite everyone to go check out Pennant Video, because you're gonna see clues to Tim's success there.

00:35:52.505 --> 00:35:56.762
So, Tim, with me queuing all of that up for you, where should listeners go from here?

00:35:56.762 --> 00:35:57.960
Drop those links on us.

00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:01.300
Where can we find all the cool things that you and Pennant are up to?

00:36:02.583 --> 00:36:07.411
Yeah, so yeah, the website is pennantvideo or pennantvideocom.

00:36:07.411 --> 00:36:09.617
They both go to the same destination.

00:36:09.617 --> 00:36:12.623
I'm on LinkedIn, Timothy Bradley.

00:36:12.623 --> 00:36:20.041
I really try to provide as much insights and value and storytelling as I can on that platform specifically.

00:36:20.041 --> 00:36:24.027
And then Pennant has Pennant Video has a LinkedIn channel as well.

00:36:24.027 --> 00:36:30.963
We are building on a newsletter plan for the latter half of the year, so more to come there.

00:36:30.963 --> 00:36:33.202
But the social channels are definitely the place to start.

00:36:33.994 --> 00:36:35.481
Yes, listeners, you know the drill.

00:36:35.481 --> 00:36:40.041
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find Tim personally, as well as Pennant Video online.

00:36:40.041 --> 00:36:51.523
The link is pennantvideo Super easy to remember and find online, or just scroll right on down wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, and you can click through to that link as well as a link to Tim's personal LinkedIn.

00:36:51.523 --> 00:36:56.380
So, tim, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:36:57.061 --> 00:36:58.045
Thank you for the opportunity.

00:36:58.045 --> 00:36:58.567
This was awesome.

00:36:59.735 --> 00:37:05.302
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.

00:37:05.302 --> 00:37:09.280
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:18.498
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at the entrepreneur showcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:37:18.498 --> 00:37:27.284
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:37:27.346 --> 00:37:29.338
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:37:29.338 --> 00:37:30.942
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00:37:30.942 --> 00:37:34.416
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00:37:34.416 --> 00:37:45.367
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:37:45.367 --> 00:37:53.867
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:37:53.867 --> 00:37:55.199
We also have live chat.

00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:59.824
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00:37:59.824 --> 00:38:01.228
Initiate a live chat.

00:38:01.228 --> 00:38:10.639
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.